Trick-or-Treat Oz style

Oh the costume issues! We had quite a time finding a costume Avery would wear that fit our theme and then I had issues getting it from an ebay seller. Luckily my friend Kristi let us borrow a scarecrow costume for Evan so his was the easiest! Her mom made it and it is adorable! I looked all over for a PG version of Dorothy (which is a nearly impossible task with the way adult women's costumes are made) and had trouble finding a Tin Man that would fit Andy's long legs. Why did I do all this? I love Halloween! It is one of my favorite holidays. Not much beats getting to play dress up and getting free candy for it!

We went to see our friends first and their new house since we wouldn't be out late enough for their Halloween party. Then we headed to base and went to the Halloween Festival there. It was inside the community center so it wasn't cold or dark. They had free games, food, and prizes. I even won a doorprize and chose a Dora game for A&E. Everyone seemed pretty impressed with our costumes. I think we were the only family that was a theme. Too bad they didn't have a costume contest. ;)

Lion meets Scarecrow


Dorothy, Lion, Scarecrow, & Tin Man (I swear my costume adds 10-20lbs with the waist that was at the top of my stomach lol)






Seriously? How cute are they?






Evan was afraid of our friends' spider pumpkin






Festival Games!









Waiting their turn nicely




Avery was tired by the time we were done

Quality time with Murphy

Murphy drives me a bit batty because he has way more energy than Joey who could sleep all day. It has been raining here for weeks it seems so we haven't been on our daily walks. He has been getting into trouble for stealing things off the counter & dinner table and eating them but he is awesome with A&E.

Stomach virus and flooding oh my!

I haven't posted much because this week has been a little crazy at our house. Poor Andy got a stomach virus on Wednesday and was throwing up. He had to go to work so I was hoping A&E wouldn't catch it since he they weren't around him. I heard Evan making a weird noise at 2:45 then he started crying. He had started throwing up and it woke him up. Poor little guy was sick about 5 more times. Every time he would try to sip water, it came back up. He would cry and say "all done" because he wanted me to make it stop. It was so sad. He was finally holding something down and I gave him pedialyte and a probiotic. Avery got up and I gave her some probiotics too. Thankfully when Andy got up, he felt much better because I was exhausted and desperately needed a nap. After a good nap, Evan was fine. Thankfully Avery and I have avoided it and I think it is due to the probiotics (they are the opposite of antibiotics for anyone wondering and they replace the good bacteria in your stomach) and constant handwashing. Before I took a nap, I cleaned everything Andy and Evan had touched and washed up all the bedstuff (again!). This is the second time this week I have disinfected our house. It is exhausting! I really hope this isn't a sign of how winter is going to be.

During all this mess in our house, it has been pouring rain outside. We had some pretty bad storms yesterday. This morning we went to Kohl's and the interstate was at a standstill because it was flooded. Luckily I knew an alternate route and it wasn't as flooded. Traffic was a mess where there was standing water. For some reason the police near base thought they would direct traffic instead of letting everyone use the stoplights like normal people. It wasn't flooded there, there were no accidents, and all the lights were working. I still can't figure out what they were doing. I can't imagine what it will be like if it snows here!

The Austin Tea Party

A&E are into Avery's tea set all of a sudden so we have a lot of pretend tea parties or "tea pahties" if you ask them.





I had to try some "tea" too

The Star Has Arrived

This is just so Avery. Do you think she expected the paparazzi?
I love this girl (even with all her drama!)

So crafty

A&E love to do little crafts and projects. The things they bring home from school are so lame and obviously teacher-made so I have been working more on doing hands-on things at home.

We made this fall tree the other day and they tore up streamer paper and glued it on their tree with a glue stick. They spent a long time (in toddler time) working on these.

(doesn't everyone wear a backwards firehat to craft?)

Poor Evan wasn't feeling well



I also found these little Elmo workbooks at Target in the $1 Spot a few weeks ago and they like to do "work" in them. They can now draw lines between pictures that match and are getting better at coloring!


Today we painted a giraffe picture that was sent home blank from school (I guess they never got around to coloring it). They had so much fun painting, they painted 2 more pieces of paper before they were done. They didn't want to fingerpaint so I gave in and let them use the brushes. They are so Andy's kids.... :-)




In this pic, you can see the canvases they painted and we hung up in the playroom. We are trying to decide what to hang between them.

Snug as a bug in a rug

Honestly I don't even know what that saying means, but it sounds cute.

We have all been sick and I am really not feeling well(who knew pleurisy wasn't just for old people?). I didn't sleep well last night so I stayed on the couch so Andy could sleep. Avery woke up early coughing so I got her and went to my bed. Evan woke up shortly after so Andy brought him in too before he left for work. A&E watched tv for a little bit while I tried to catnap (unsuccessfully). Andy snapped a pic of us all snuggled in bed (minus Murphy who was totally jealous!).



You can tell they still aren't feeling well in this pic

Evan: my little fashion critic

I was getting dressed this morning and put on a long sleeved t-shirt. Evan was playing around in the bathroom and looked up and said "no mama, I no like that shirt". Well then. Doesn't he realize I pick out clothes for everyone in this house (besides Andy)? So I asked Mr Critic what he thought I should wear finding it all amusing without being too offended. He answered immediately "football shirt". I was cracking up. I explained mommy didn't want to wear her football shirt (aka Cowboys jersey) today so I would wear a blue shirt instead. He was okay with that.

Such a mess

A&E like to team up sometimes and get into mischief. Imagine that! If it is very quiet or they are giggling like crazy, I know something is up.

I was making their lunch the other day and I found them in our room with all of Joey's bedstuff out of his cage and they were playing with it.


The other day I was doing something and I come back in the office to find them spitting milk on the back of our desk chair. Apparently spit droplets of milk on black leather are hilarious. I did NOT find it amusing and they immediately had their milk taken away and had to clean up!



I'm sure this is just a mild beginning of things to come.....

State Fair

Friday morning we visited the State Fair. A&E had never been to a fair and I hadn't been in years. They had free admission and free kiddie rides from 9am-11am so we decided to bundle up and go. Who knew the fair opened so early and that Arkansas skips fall weather so early? It was only in the 50s which is pretty chilly to me!

Apparently everyone in the area with children under 6 got the news about free admission and rides too. We had to wait in line and ended up only riding 3 rides but A&E enjoyed it. I think Avery enjoyed the livestock animals much more though. She is such a farm girl at heart. She was right at home with them and didn't care one bit that a horse and a rabbit nipped at her. Evan was crazy over the ducklings! He was so excited to hold one. He isn't feeling well this week but I think that cheered him up!






This boat ride was so fast it was pushing Avery over onto Evan. They loved it though!




Check out Avery's attitude in this one

I told her smiling girls get to ride the carousel and her attitude changed immediately!





They loved the little petting zoo (despite their somber looks in the first pics). I had to convert my pics to b&w because the red tent gave them all this weird tint.






The face of evil (at least this one was nowhere near my van!)

This pig had just had piglets. They were the cutest things I had ever seen. I have never seen a pig this small! It almost makes me not want to eat bacon....almost!


We caught a family show when the free rides ended. A&E had fun dancing before the show started.



They loved the ducklings





A rabbit also had babies that were adorable



This miniature/dwarf horse was very strange looking but Avery loved it of course!


Avery the farm girl milking a cow (Evan wouldn't try it). Maybe we should get a cow for the backyard and save some money on milk.....



I grew up going to the fair every year but I have never seen so many deep fried foods in my life. I had no idea you could deep fry oreos, cheesecake, and cookie dough. None of that sounded good to me. The beef sundae just did it for me though. I couldn't even look at the picture. The state fair food is like a heart attack's dream!

We had a great time and I am glad we went even if we were chilly!